A Girl and an Idea
by 1HelloAgain1
Summary: James Potter knows Lily fancies him, and he's concocted a brilliant scheme to make her admit it. Unfortunately, it requires the assistance of Annie, a socially awkward girl who wants nothing to do with him.
1. A Girl and an Idea

I guess I could be considered a little more than socially awkward. I had never had a best friend, a normal friend, or even a boyfriend. I was sixteen and my life was full of nevers. Never had a sleepover. Never had an inside joke. Never held someone's hand I wasn't related to. Never had my first kiss, or at least anything that I counted (I was kissed by a kid I was dancing with at a wedding when I was four). Some people might call my life a tad boring or empty, but I preferred it this way. Through observation and the frequent story overheard in the Great Hall, I had decided that all boys - or at least, all teenage boys - were gits, and that I wanted nothing to do with them. Of course, I might've been tempted to if I could actually talk properly to one, or in front of one. Boys made me nervous. Whenever I was around one, I would try to impress him. I always ended up looking like a fool, usually trying to say something clever, but jumbling my words. Eventually I just learned to avoid them completely.

***A Girl and an Idea***

I was sitting in my favourite armchair in the common room, a favourite because it was wedged in a little alcove off the portrait hole, so it was generally quiet, and had a good view of the grounds through a round window behind it. This was where I got most of my homework done; my dormitory was usually noisy from my roommates and the Librarian Madam Pince frightened me. I was sitting with Dorcas Meadowes, a quiet girl who I would consider my closest friend, though we were hardly study mates.

We were required to read a book for Muggle Studies - not just an electrical manual of some sort, but an actual book – and Dorcas and I were comparing notes on it when the Marauders entered the common room.

A long sigh escaped me. The Marauders: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and James Potter, were always quite noisy. Even in my hideaway I could hear them loud and clear, chortling over pranks and yelling, while their usual gaggle of girls surrounded them, giggling and carrying on. I would never get anything else done with these distractions.

"Umm, Dorcas? Do you mind if we save this for tomorrow?" I asked, gathering my books. She smiled. "The Marauders?"

I left her in the corner and tried to slink off to my dormitory. I bumped into Lily on the stairs. I didn't really know her that well; I had had a few classes with her over the years, but never really developed a friendship (but I hadn't done that with anybody). We knew each other well enough to exchange pleasantries every once in a while.

"Oh, I'm sorry Annie! I wasn't really paying attention." She looked at my textbooks for a moment and her eyes narrowed. "It's_ them_ again, isn't it? Honestly!"

"It's fine. I was going upstairs soon anyway," I muttered, hoping she wasn't going to make a scene on my account.

But being the person that she was, Lily nodded knowingly then marched down the remaining stairs with a sense of purpose, and headed straight for the group of people with her head held high and her hands firmly on her hips.

"Er - hello?" she began, and a few looked at her, then turned back around. "_Hello_!"

She got everyone's attention that time, including James Potter's. He glanced at her and smiled charmingly. "Hello to you too, Evans."

She frowned, but her cheeks obviously reddened. "Don't you think you're being rather loud?"

James looked around at the other people within the group (who were smirking), then back at her with a puzzled expression. "No? Do you, dear Evans?"

"Yes! You are constantly making noise and causing people who have every right to study here leave. It's not fair to them. Look here, Annie trying to go over her homework, and left the moment you arrived because you are such a distraction!" She gestured toward me and I looked down in shame. Did she really have to bring me into this? When I looked up again, I saw that both James and Sirius were looking at me with obvious interest. I quickly returned my gaze to my shoes.

"But like, we're not allowed outside the common room after like, nine o'clock," said a girl, who I recognized as one of the MacDonald sisters.

Lily laughed. "Exactly."

"**What do you think of Annie Bell?" I asked as we walked into our dormitory.** Sirius responded with a resounding flop onto his four-poster.

"I think we should certainly consider her," was his answer after a moment, followed by a grunt. He was distracted with trying to take off his shirt while still lying down.

I turned to Remus, whose opinion was really the only mildly intelligent one in the group. "Well, I think if you are going through with this awful plan, she's a good choice. She's smart, pretty, and knows Lily well enough. It'll be somewhat believable that you would pick her. I think your main problem here is that Lily hasn't seen you with her at all. I think if you must do this, you should make an effort to talk to her with Lily around."

See? Mildly intelligent.

"Nah," said Sirius. "Don't you want to do this quickly? Ask Annie to go through with it tomorrow. She probably will, because you're handsome and charming and whatnot. The sooner you do this, the sooner you'll be with Evans!"

"Wormtail?"

He shrugged, distracted by a loose thread in his sock. "I like Annie. She's nice."

"Do you think she'll make Lily jealous though?" I asked, sitting on my bed. Maybe I was over thinking this.

"I think so. As Moony said, she's smart and pretty. And Lily is sure to notice you two together. What more can you ask for?"

I made a face. "I don't know! I'm just questioning this whole idea! Is it stupid? Is it manipulative? What will Lily think of it once we're together? Should I even tell her? What if she finds out, will she be angry with me? What if she doesn't end up admitting it? What if she doesn't do anything about Annie? What if -"

"Mate, you just need to calm down," exclaimed Sirius, triumphantly throwing his shirt on the ground. "We all agreed – except for Remus. This is going to work. Lily's friends are going to help too remember?" Remus sighed and picked up the shirt of the carpet, folded it, and placed it on the armchair in the corner.

I took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll ask Annie out – tomorrow."


	2. The Agreement

**Thank you for the lovely reviews! As implored, here's the next chapter! **

The next day was a weird one. I skipped my usual morning routine of getting ready, grabbing something handheld from the Great Hall, then eating it on a crisp walk around the lake. Instead, I decided on doing the homework I missed the previous night in the common room. That's where I met Lily again, who invited me to eat breakfast with her and her group of friends. I immediately accepted without thinking.

We walked down together, first in an awkward silence, then she brought up a test we recently had in Potions, and the answers we had written down. Both of us were the kind that enjoyed going over homework, so conversation went smoothly until we reached the Great Hall.

Lily had a large group of friends - all girls, and all of them I despised. They were all pretty daft - excluding two or three - and annoying, and giggly. I could hardly stand sitting with them for a few minutes. Luckily, Lily and I were still discussing homework, so none of them joined in.

"Alright Lily?" said James Potter coming up from behind us and squeezing in next to me, as he knew Lily wouldn't allow him to go near her. His friends sat across from me. All of them - especially Sirius – were staring at me in this expectant, mysterious type of way. It made me exceedingly uncomfortable. "Alright ... Annie, is it?"

"Yes," I replied, looking down at my plate of buttered toast.

"Hey Annie, do you mind if we talk, you know, in private?" asked James, with a nod to his friends. I looked at him, expecting a prank. "Just for a moment, please?"

"Er - fine, I suppose?" With a worried glance at Lily (who seemed equally confused), I got up and followed James through the Great Hall to an empty classroom at the top of the marble staircase. He waited till I walked in, closed the door, then sat on top of a desk with his feet up on another.

"What exactly do you want?"

"Well, dear Antoinette," he answered, studying at a hole in the big toe of his Italian shoes with interest, "I want you to be my girlfriend."

My jaw dropped. "Pardon me?" I spluttered. Did he actually just say that?

"Let me explain. You see, Antoinette, I have been in love with Lily Evans since I was eleven, and since I was eleven, Lily has hated me. For the past six years I have tried charming her into fancying me, but in vain. She still hates me. Every bouquet of flowers I send her, she smiles so delightfully, until she sees the name on the card; every kind word I say to her, she takes so beautifully, until she looks to see to speaker; every -"

"James, how long have you been preparing that speech?" I asked with a slightly amused smile. Now that I knew that he didn't actually fancy me, I could be somewhat comfortable.

"Is it too much?" I nodded.

"Oh, sorry. Well, essentially, I've always tried to woo Lily, and I never really thought that my attempts really worked, but now it's obvious that she fancies me back. But the problem is, she's way too stubborn to admit to me that, and if confront her, I know she'll deny it. I need something that will push her over the edge and convince her to tell me her feelings, and I'm thinking that's jealousy."

I blinked. "So you want me to - no! I am not doing that!" I headed for the door. James hopped off his desk and ran in front of me.

"No! You have to do this, please! You're perfect for it. You're close enough to Lily that she'll notice us together, but far enough that she can't really be mad at you. And you're pretty, Annie, so she'll be jealous, but not too over-the-top, so she won't believe it. Please!"

With his chest centimetres away from my face, I realized this was the closest I had ever been to a boy, who just called me _pretty_. For a fleeting moment, I think I forgot to breathe.

"Annie, I just need to get Lily's attention. Please! I promise that if it doesn't work within a month we'll just forget about the whole thing."

For one shameful second, I actually considered it. James was desperate, and he seemed genuinely enamoured with Lily. If our fake dates started a romantic relationship between them, then the idea couldn't be that bad, could it? But what was I thinking? What were the chances of Lily actually stepping up and saying "Though you two seem to be in love, I want to break you up because despite hating you all these years, seeing you together makes me jealous!" That wasn't like her at all. If anything, Lily would ignore both of us.

"James, how do you even know Lily fancies you?"

"I just know – she's different. She acts all strange around me, she blushes whenever I talk to her. Sometimes during Prefect meetings, I catch her smiling in my direction when she thinks I'm not looking. I've done extensive research and I can only draw one conclusion: Lily now fancies me."

"By extensive research do you mean you asked Sirius Black?" I said, crossing my arms.

He smirked. "Him and some of Lily's friends. They agree with me. Now, will you do it?"

"I'm sorry James, but no." And with that, I pushed past him and walked out the door.

**I considered going after Annie briefly, then decided that I should give her some time to think the idea over. **Even I wasn't crazy about it, and this wasn't even going to benefit her. I went back towards the Gryffindor table, shook my head sadly at Moony and Prongs (Wormy was intent on finding a perfectly crisped piece of bacon), and collected my books. I'll give Annie until tomorrow night, and then I'll talk to her again.

The day went by slowly, especially since my mind was only on Annie and Lily. What could I do to convince Annie? Who could be Annie's backup if I couldn't? Dorcas Meadowes maybe, or Mary MacDonald, but they didn't have Annie's strange charm. They would convince themselves we were actually dating; Annie was obviously not interested in a romantic way. I couldn't have a backup anyway; she was perfect for this job – I had to somehow persuade her. But how? She wasn't the type to accept bribery, and I doubted she'd ever done something blackmail worthy.

"Oi, Prongs? Class ended a minute ago," said Sirius, throwing a quill at me. "C'mon, I have to demonstrate my genius!" Not bothering to ask, I packed up my things.

Back in the common room, Padfoot was trying out some slippers he charmed into wildly dancing whenever someone wore them.

"Come one, come all! Try out my amazing, but perfectly ordinary 'slippers'!" he cried, as the usual fan club giggled per usual. "Frank Longbottom! Come, try on my slippers! I promise nothing bad will come of it!"

Frank looked up from his conversation with Alice and said, "Really, Sirius? Everyone heard you explain the trick twenty seconds ago. I am _not_ dancing for all of you." Regardless, Alice nudged him slightly and he stood up, smirking. He kicked of his shoes and stepped into the magenta, fuzzy slippers. At this point, the whole common room was watching, silent and waiting for something to happen.

Frank laughed after a minute, pushing his dark hair out of his face. "Maybe this is why you have a T in Charms, Siri –" The slippers suddenly started moving wildly. First, Frank was doing jazz squares, his arms moving madly trying to grab onto something. Just as he found a table, the slippers switched to fast tap. The crowd cackled loudly with glee.

Just as Frank started doing a little ballet, Annie ran up to me. "James," she said quietly glaring at me. She was obviously angry, but her demeanour was extremely calm. The result was oddly terrifying. "I will only pretend-date you if you stop this Marauder nonsense in the common room." And with that, she turned and stalked to the girls' dormitory.

**Since you've gone to all this trouble, I suppose reviewing wouldn't be too much to ask for? :)**


	3. The Guidelines

I got up early the next morning and continued my morning routine. I felt good to have everything planned out like I usually did – completely unlike the whole dating scheme with James Potter. My first time being remotely reckless, I do this! I guess my desire for an undisturbed study session defeated my natural thoughtfulness. But now that I agreed to it, I couldn't back down. After I saw James' face after I told him, I couldn't take that hope away from him. And who knows? Maybe it'll actually work.

When I got back from my walk, I found an envelope with my name on it stuck to my dormitory door. Curious, I opened it.

_Annie_, it read

_I think we should go over some rules for this whole dating thing. And you should explain your condition a tad more, don't you think?_

_Meet me at the greenhouses after last class?_

_James_

I sighed. I was in way over my head.

I arrived at the greenhouses with my bag slung over my shoulder. It was now October, so it was getting progressively chillier by the day. I was glad I thought to bring my heavy jacket.

"Hey Annie, you got my note?" said James. He was leaning against Greenhouse 2 with the usual smirk on his face, looking cool as a cucumber. However, I had a feeling he was as nervous as I was. I nodded. "So – er – I thought that we should make a guideline of some sort, y'know? So no one's uncomfortable."

I smiled, throwing my bag on the ground. It was a relief that he was as awkward in this situation as I was. "It's a good idea; I was going to suggest it. Should we make it official by writing it down? Or should we just, you know ...?"

"I guess we should write it down for reference, it we're sure no one finds it," he said. I took out a piece of parchment from my bag and a quill. I dipped the quill in a pot of black ink and waited patiently for James.

"Okay!" he said suddenly, bringing his hands together. "I'm thinking physical contact should be reduced to hugs, and possibly holding hands. We have to make it somewhat believable but not go too far, don't you think?"

I nodded, though I was really thinking how I didn't even want to look at him. How exactly was I supposed to be his girlfriend, again? "Sounds good," I said, jotting it down.

"And only arms around each other if times are dire, yes?"

"Sure," I replied, adding that quickly.

James thought for a moment. "We need to come up with guidelines for when Lily's around. Like, should we just act like we're dating when she's around, or should we act all lovey-dovey regardless of who's there? Thoughts?"

"I think that we should kind of ..." I struggled for the right words. "Act friendly at regular times, but act really 'lovey-dovey' when Lily's near. If we're trying to make her jealous, we have to do it right. Like, how I sit beside her in Charms. I'll just talk to her about how great you are for the whole class. That's bound to get her envious."

"Good idea." James started chuckling. "What if, whenever we see Lily, you start immediately laughing hysterically and go '_Oh, Jamesie_! _You_'_re so funny_!'"

I laughed, finally starting to feel somewhat comfortable. "I do _not_ sound like that! Nor do I wave my hands around and cross my eyes!"

"Just an impression," he said with a smirk. "Now, how about ..."

At the end of the hour, our guidelines were as follows:

_1. Physical contact to be reduced to hugs, holding hands, and possibly arms around each other._

_2. Act friendly towards each other at all times, regardless of current feelings._

_3. Act 'lovey-dovey' if Lily, one of her friends or anyone particularly gossipy is seen._

_4. Only speak to Lily about the other person. Compliments are necessary. Be annoying as possible._

_5. Go over any plans or thoughts regarding future actions with other person._

_6. NEVER tell Lily of this plan._

_7. Annie must gush about James at any possible moment. _(James added that with a smirk).

_8. James must stop being stupid or this foolishness will never work. _(I added that upon seeing number 7).

_*Guidelines may be added after consulting other person*_

"**Sorry mates, but we can't demonstrate our brilliance in the common room from Sunday to Thursdays anymore," I announced.** The three looked up from their new experiment (taking place on _my bed_, of all places) in surprise. The fire at the end of their wands distinguished, leaving the air around them full of light smoke.

"Er – pardon Prongs?" asked Remus, coughing. He never really cared for the pranks we did, but I suppose it was shocking for me to stop it like this.

"Annie doesn't want us to on any night she'll probably have homework. She said it's distracting. We still have weekends, at any rate."

Sirius looked incredulous. "How am I supposed to show off my magnificent Transfiguring Squirrel Cufflinks if we can't be in the common room on weeknights? Come on James, you're not even actually dating this girl and you're already whipped!"

"I'm sorry, but that was her one and only condition. It's the only way Padfoot, c'mon! Do this for me, please! It'll only last a month, tops."

He shrugged, still slightly angry. "I don't know. Remus?"

"I actually prefer it this way."

He scowled. "Peter?"

Wormtail made a face. "Annie's had to deal with us distracting her for years. I guess it's only fair to have a month to herself and her studies."

I grinned. "Excellent, Peter. With thoughts like that, you may be up to replace Moony!"

"Hey, I would like to think that I am utterly irreplaceable, thank you very much."

**A pretty short, awkward chapter ending rather short and awkwardly. Oh well. Hope you review!**


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